It was a long time coming, and I wouldn't go so far as to say it was worth the wait, but this win over the blueshite was most satisfying to say the least. The fact that Nicky Barmby scored one and made one was the icing on the cake really. All that was lacking was a Fowler goal and ÐcelebrationŽ in front of the bitters. That really would have been a perfect day. To be fair, Everton played some really good stuff in the opening half hour, and I thought Gazza had a fine game for them. Gravesen also did well before his dismissal, particularly in the first half, but Liverpool began to develop a stranglehold leading up to half time and in the second half we simply swarmed all over them. The key was probably Hamann and McAllister taking control of midfield. In the opening half hour Gary Mac was anonymous. The game passed him by, partly due to the frantic pace and also due to our defenders constantly hitting the long ball to Heskey. As the game settled down though, Gary Mac came into his own, and we began to play.
I've been very critical of Hamann of late, but if he plays well I'm usually the first one to say so. I call it as I see it and in the second half today I thought Didi was absolutely magnificent. I've said that he can produce the goods when he wants to, and he and Gary Mac ran the midfield in the second half. To be fair, they were helped by the fact that Everton's midfield is a lot like our own was under Roy Evans. We always used to get outfought in midfield because we had no-one who could put their foot in, but it seems the roles have now been reversed. Of course there was Mark Pembridge, who if he isn't kicking shite out of people he's missing glaring opportunities in front of the Kop, but Gazza, Gravesen and Nyarko are hardly Parkinson, Ebbrell and Horne are they? They can play though, and they did for about half an hour, until the game settled down a bit and our lads took control.
Much was made of what GH may or may not have said at half time, but I felt we had already taken control of the game towards the end of the first half. There was one noticeable tactical change though, as for most of the second half we appeared to be playing without a left back. Ziege pushed right up the field and hugged the left touchline, in a move presumably designed to stop Gravesen's influence. Gary Mac and Didi Hamann filled in at left back for much of the second half, but it certainly had the desired effect.
Walter Smith complained afterwards that there was a push by Fowler which allowed Barmby to score. He may have a point, but what about the blatant penalty we should have had for the foul on Gary Mac? I keep hearing about the chances Everton had, but we had chances too. Len Capeling in the Daily Post says that Everton should have been 3-1 up at half time. This is your typical bluenose whining. As Colin Watt always says to me, all you get from bluenoses are comments like ¿If we win our next twelve games and you lose all yours, and if the Pope gets married and Michael Owen gets abducted by aliens, we'll only be two points behind you.î Basically, they're full of shit.
By Capeling's logic, I could say that we should have been 4-3 up, as Fowler missed a great chance, we should have had a pen and Barmby could have grabbed a second. Apart from the goal they scored (which was again down to poor judgement from Westerveld), they had two chances, both of which were wasted by Pembridge. Other than that, what did they create? At least Smith never complained about the pen or the sending off, his predecessor Big Fat Joe most certainly would have done.
What did piss me off about that incident though, was Paul Gerrard having a go at Vladi suggesting he'd dived. You'll never see a more blatant foul than that, and why would Smicer have dived when he was about to score (which he would have done, make no mistake)? Anyway, Paddy blasted home the pen (as he would have done the other night given the chance) and the only question then was how many would we score?
Smicer and Berger then proceeded to slice Everton to pieces at will, only to then fuck up with the final pass or shot, and we had to settle for just the three. Our star man was without any doubt Steven Gerrard, who was simply brilliant at right back. As pleased as I am with his performance, I've got mixed feelings about it because I know this will be the catalyst for Smithy, Rogers & all the other gimps to start harping on about right back being his best position. Still, he can stay there for the time being until he is fully over his injury problems, which is bad news for every left winger in England. Emile Heskey and Markus Babbel ran him pretty close, but you'd have to be a complete idiot not to recognize Stevie as man of the match.
Incidentally, Ian McGarry of the Mail (he of the ÐWaste of SpiceŽ article fame), went for Gary Mac as his MOTM. What was I saying about complete idiots again?
TEAM: Sander Westerveld; Steven Gerrard (Jamie Carragher), Markus Babbel, Sami Hyypia, Christian Ziege; Nick Barmby, Dietmar Hamann, Gary McAllister, Patrik Berger; Robbie Fowler (Vladimir Smicer), Emile Heskey:
